My mother kept meticulous files full of articles and brochures about the places she wanted to travel to, although there was no indication she would ever get to any of them. My father was deeply uncomfortable leaving home and wanted to venture no further than the garden out back or the workbench in the garage, and she lacked the daring to strike out on her own. As a teenager, I looked on my mother’s files with disdain and, later, with pity. How sad, I thought, to just move papers about and never really do the things you want to do. How tragic, to lock up a life in a box.

Many years later, I came to see that I too had much of my life in a box. I had—and still have—file cabinets and straw baskets and big black binders and cardboard boxes and computer files and even their backups. These files are filled with my writing. Writing about falling in love and having my heart broken; about adventures in sex and sexuality; about getting married and heading to divorce; about becoming a mother and holding my children in my arms for the first time and, later, worrying about the complex and unstable world they will inherit; about caring for my beloved mother when dementia struck, witnessing the awful progression, being with her when she took her last breath, not knowing how to go on, and finding a way to go on; about my struggles with confidence and other secrets and lies; about my spiritual questing, my deep love of life, and my fear of dying before I wholly and fully live; about friendship and the beauty of yellow tulips in a vase; about the miracle of having just the right people appear in my life at just the right time, and longing, longing, longing—to break free.

The walls we construct (what Doris Lessing called The Prisons We Choose to Live Inside) may crumble of their own accord but usually, I think, something else happens. We stay stuck. A little light shines in. Or, one day, we find the courage to scale the walls, peek over and take the plunge. That is what I think we secretly most want to do. And it is what I am doing now—since I began a project several months ago to review all my unpublished writing, identify what may be worth sharing, turn them into publication-ready pieces, and send them out.

This work stops my heart and fills it at the same time. I mean to say it terrifies me. But feeling this terror is better than feeling the deadening of my spirit that comes from keeping it all locked up. Because this, in the end, is what I have to give: Words about life, my life, and the common threads that unite all our lives—the experience of longings and disappointments, successes and failures, love and loss. And in an age when it seems as if we are all expected to sell our work and ourselves, with a bright shiny ribbon on it and a promise of here is how you too can find success, happiness, and love—it takes a bit of courage, I think, to offer one’s bare truth. But then again, it is the simple truths—offered by writers, often in books of limited commercial appeal but timeless value—that have meant the most to me. It is what we writers do: conjure the words that help people understand, maybe just a little more, our shared and uncontainable experience of life. But it only works when the words expressed in private are let out into the world and given a life of their own.

Me too … I even have an area on my website called Inside The Box, inviting people to lift the lid and read draft extracts – so you’ve reminded me that I need to lift it myself and attack what’s actually in there … Thanks!

I have a similar story about my father. When he passed way when I was 11, we found a box of his unpublished works that no one even know he had written. In my second career as a writer, it has been the impetus for me to complete and publish my works. Unfortunately, I was not in the position to keep any of the stuff my father wrote, but it has served me now to at the very least, complete unfinished works.

And you just made mine sweeter. Thank you for sharing that, and I hope you find things you love. I have found the return to writing after some significant passage of time makes it relatively easy to see what is good and worth sending out.

Lisa, your words struck a deep chord with me. I’ve been writing for years, but feared that someone would yell, “Phony!” if I dared called myself a writer. And then seven years ago, I began caring for both my aging parents. Keeping copious notes on sticky pads, napkins and scrap paper, I documented the experience, which was sad and joyous, dark and funny, often at the same time. When my parents passed away, I realized this was a story that needed to be written and shared. The book will be out sometime this month and I’ve taken all my other… Read more »

Thank you for this! I have shoe boxes full of stories and artifacts from my life that I just came across during a move. I have old milk crates filled with notebooks and binders. Then there is all the computer files and drafts and journals, all full of words. My hope is that I will “review all my unpublished writing, identify what may be worth sharing, turn them into publication-ready pieces, and send them out,” as you put it. This is one of my goals for the next year, so that “the words expressed in private are let out into… Read more »

Love this, Lisa! I too have finished manuscripts just sitting. My problem is what to do with them? Who will publish? After years of agents asking and ultimately rejecting, do I just need to publish them myself? I resist – maybe bc it’s so scary to go it alone. Needed to read your post today – thank you and happy mother’s day 🙂

Thank you so much for writing, and Happy Mother’s Day to you, too! Jane is surely the expert on publishing but I do see agents and big publishers as having so many limitations on them, because of the requirement to come up with a big seller, while there are many, many smaller publishers who can help one find one’s readers/community — which is likely the most rewarding thing. Good luck to you whatever you choose to do.

Thank you for an excellent and motivational article! Tackling my overflowing writing files,so that I can at least close the drawer, has been on my “to do” list forever. Perhaps now I can allow myself to trash piles of useless junk,and make room for sparkling new ideas. While I’m at it, I can revive those almost-published gems, reread inspirational articles, frame the acceptance letters, wallpaper my bathroom with nasty rejection letters,and generally attempt to finish a lot of unfinished business….right after I check my email, that is….(wink) lol

And thanks for the good laugh. There is something wonderful about honoring our own good efforts by not giving up on what is truly good — and moving the rest out to make room for the new. Hope you enjoy your process!

[…] can suffer from time and resource management issues. Lisa Bennett demonstrates what to do with all your writing languishing in boxes, Drew Chial shows how writers can keep time from slipping away, Kevan Lee lists 50 amazing […]

Thank you Lisa for starting this conversation and thank you everyone for your comments. I can relate to many of the feelings you all have shared. Writing is one of my greatest passions and I usually spend hours every day creating new material. It is like I am surfing in very wide groove which my energy keeps flowing into. The thought of publishing is always there and that project often feels like turning an ocean liner around. Creating new material is so blissfully easy. Publishing is such an unknown for me. I used to write a lot on Facebook and… Read more »

Bruce, I really love the way you put this. It can be challenging to remember this is all a journey that involves uncertainty. But that’s where the richness is, and it sounds like you’re there. Best of luck to you!

[…] When You Have Unpublished Writing in Boxes A Thinker In a World of Talkers 11 Ways To Tap Into The Beautiful World Around You There Is a War Over Race in America (but it’s not whites vs. blacks) My Interview on Morning on the Dock Podcast15 Protein-Packed Vegan Recipes Multitasking Drains the Energy Reserves of Your Brain Summer Reading List For a Curious Mind Non-Caffeinated Ways to Wake Up How Animal Advocates Are Taking On the Meat Lobby […]

Categories

Blog Archives

Blog Archives

About Jane

I have more than 20 years of experience in the book and magazine publishing industry, with expertise in digital media and the future of authorship. I speak around the world at events such as BookExpo America, Frankfurt Book Fair, and Digital Book World, and have keynoted writing conferences such as The Muse & The Marketplace. Read more.